Minnesota's foreclosure rate is now one of the nation's lowest

Minnesota has one of the lowest foreclosure rates in the nation, according to CoreLogic's National Foreclosure Report.

The state's foreclosure inventory rate, which represents the number of homes at some stage in the foreclosure process, was just 0.4 percent in February.

Minnesota was tied with several other states for the second-lowest rate, including Arizona, Colorado and Utah. Alaska had the lowest rate at 0.3 percent.

Foreclosure rates have been on the decline across the country for at least five years, with the biggest declines coming in areas where the economic recovery has been strongest and foreclosure prevention efforts have been most aggressive.

Frank Nothaft, chief economist for CoreLogic, attributed the trend to income growth and other economic improvements. "Job creation averaged 207,000 during the first two months of 2016, and incomes grew over the past year," he said in a statement.

Nationwide, an estimated 434,000, or 1.1 percent, of all homes were moving through the foreclosure process. That's compared with 571,000 homes, or 1.5 percent, at the same time last year.

Completed foreclosures, or the total number of homes lost to foreclosure, declined 10 percent compared with February 2015 to just 38,000 properties. That's down 71.3 percent from the September 2010 peak when there were 117,776 foreclosures.

"As for reasons we believe the numbers are continuing to decline, I think we're seeing a combination of events that are having a positive impact on the number of foreclosures," said Ed Nelson, the center's marketing and communications manager.

He cited several factors, including foreclosure prevention services by the center, industry partners and government agencies; improvements in how banks and services deal with struggling homeowners and an improving housing market. Fewer owners are underwater and more are able to sell.

"No one knows what the future will bring, so the center will continue to track this information and will continue to offer services to Minnesota families that may continue to struggle to make mortgage payments," Nelson said.

The group's data from the end of last year show that more than 4,000 Minnesota households are still behind in their payments.

CoreLogic said that since the start of the financial crisis in September 2008, there have been about 6.2 million completed foreclosures across the country. Since homeownership rates peaked in the second quarter of 2004, there have been approximately 8.2 million homes lost to foreclosure.